So, that chaos has undone itself and I learned a few things that other self-published authors will find helpful.
- Smashwords puts your book on Barnes & Noble and they have to be the one to take it down.
- It takes 1-3 weeks for Smashwords to take down your book after you unpublish with them.
- Smashwords works on business days (weekends not included in deadlines) and Kindle works on all days (weekends included in deadlines).
The moral of the story is this: If you are on all of the sites and wish to go KDP Select, you have to make sure you are off all the sites before signing up. I didn’t know about the Barnes & Noble page, which might have been mentioned in the original contract and I forgot. Either way, you have to make sure you are off Smashwords and Barnes & Noble before going KDP Select. So, an author can give them a shot, but keep in mind that it takes at least a week to get off. In fact, I would still recommend giving them a shot for a first book because if you can pull off what I didn’t then you will be in a better position.
Will I go back to Smashwords? I don’t know. I’ve heard of a lot of authors have success on there. I’m not one of them and I tried. It seems that it took me going KDP Select and running a free weekend to get Nook users to start sending me emails. The problem is that if I go onto Smashwords again with my books then I’ll have to drop them and put them back every time I go KDP Select. It’s something to think about.
Legends of Windemere 
I am sorry for all the drama you have had to endure! I hope it is smooth sailing form here on:)
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Me too. I have to admit that I feel a little bad about getting so angry at Smashwords. Not sure how smooth things are going to sail. The book sales are slow, but I just need them to keep some momentum for the second book.
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You may find out after you have a couple of books out that the sales for all the books increase because you start to get fans of the series and more exposure.
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Definitely. My goal is still to have the first 4-5 books out before Christmas. Jason told me that a 3 month gap between books is pretty good to maintain a constant momentum. The gap will grow as I catch up to the finished books though.
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Something else to remember is that KDP Select membership runs in quarters. So if you wanted to put it up for a short time and then go back to other channels, you have to wait until the quarter ends. Once I opted out of KDP, it took almost three months before I was officially out of the program.
Either way, I think you will start seeing a lot more success when book 2 comes out. So until then, relax and just remember you’re about to be a two-time author!
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Thanks. I won’t be able to put the books on Smashwords until the end of July, so that gives me time to see if I want to go back. After all, selling only 4-5 books through those venues doesn’t make the hassle of removing them for a KDP Select run worth it. Nook is really the only big one that I miss out on due to iPad having a Kindle app. This is one of those confusing parts of self-publishing, isn’t it?
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It definitely is…I had mine on select for a year and had only 2 or 3 downloads. Its probably something I did wrong, but I didn’t have the success a lot of authors claim to have. Then again, I may get no sales on BN/Smashwords, either. SIGH!
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It really is Russian Roulette when starting out. What kind of marketing did you do?
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Not much initially, because I was working 80 hours a week and had no time for it. I created the FB page and marketed it to friends and family, and friends of theirs mostly. It wasn’t until I started blogging and getting to know other writers that I started having time to determine a better marketing strategy. I’m waiting to do anything big until my second book comes out.
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I’ll do whatever I can to help with that. 😀
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Thank you 🙂 Hopefully I can get it out there by July 1 so the real fun can begin!
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I hate you had to go through all this trouble and know it must have been aggravating, but is it entirely selfish of me to be glad I was able to get your book from B&N while it was on there?
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No. It’s fair. Not sure what to do about the next one though.
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Reblogged this on She Whose Name Shall Be a Blog and commented:
While considering whether or not to use Smashwords myself, this has been really helpful.
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I guess if you are in KDP select, you cannot sell the books directly from your website, either? That would be helpful if you could like, convert the books to .EPUB (nook format) and then sell them from your website and sell the Kindle versions through KDP Select. Why does Amazon have to make everything so difficult?
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I can’t say I blame them considering what KDP Select is. They bought advertising money toward me when I sign up, so it would be bad business for them to do that to someone selling on their competitor’s sites.
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Fair enough. How about print paperback consignment in local bookstores? Is that an option right now?
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I had to look this up, but it says “When you choose to enroll your book in KDP Select, you’re committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP.”
Think paperbacks are in the clear going by that sentence.
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Reblogged this on The Ranting Papizilla and commented:
Interesting ordeal Charles went through with Smashwords. Authors, check it out, did you have the same things happen, or was your experience smooth?
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Glad it’s sorted out for now (and that I got it on my Kobo while it was still on Smashwords!).
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Sounds like you had hit a snag. Glad that it’s sorted out. Sometimes things have a way of spoofing on us, on a individual level.
When going self publishing, I will keep that in mind
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Thankfully, the snag was fixed and it can be avoided through patience and caution.
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It made sense that KDP is a tad strict. Basically I would have to make a choice, when signing up with e-book self-publishing.
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You can do Amazon without the KDP exclusivity. It’s when you go KDP Select that you’re Amazon only. It makes sense since they put some advertising behind you when you join.
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Seems to me that using both requires different marketing strategies. I put my novel up on Amazon and Kindle (not KDP Select) and on Smashwords. Sold two copies on Smashwords and couldn’t figure out how to crack the nut there. I eventually took it off, went KDP Select, offered a couple of free days, and “sold” almost 400 copies. “Sold” because about half were free downloads from Prime members which actually earned me a little more than the 70% of my $2.99 download price. If anybody has ideas about how to develop sales through Smashwords, I’m all ears.
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That’s kind of what happened to me. I did a bunch of marketing and it netted me 2,800 Amazon sales in 2 months. I only had 25 on Smashwords, but 7 were the free sample and 16 were from a free download week. I really do wonder how to break into that, but I’m also wondering if I should fight for it. Always a possibility that getting popular on Amazon could cause a lot of Nook and Kobo users to request it. Supply and demand at its evilest.
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Some day I’d like to hear about the promotional efforts that led to 2,800 sales. I did a Goodreads giveaway and the two free kindle days.
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I did a lot of Twitter, blogging, and FB stuff. I used a group of on-line advertising sites like GoodKindle, AskDavid.com, Bookpinning, Novelspot, and Kindle Mojo. Once I got my book on an Amazon Top 100 List, it caught fire and shot off. I think a major key is to get on one of those Amazon lists. My book is also .99 cents, which probably helped.
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Yes, for a couple of glorious days my book was near the top of the Legal Thriller list for the Kindle. Alas it didn’t last long enough for 2,800 sales. :(. I’ll need to check out those other sites you mentioned.
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One more thing … I’ve struggled with when to go to .99. Your 2800 sales at that price netted you a little more than my 400 at 2.99. Do you include in that 2800 figure any lending library borrows?
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I didn’t get into the lending library until I joined KDP Select. So all of those are full sale.
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Just registered on askDavid. Will see what happens.
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Great. Hope it works for you.
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Oh and I tried to find places to do author interviews. I also made friends with the authors of WordPress and we help each other out. That sense of community is an amazing support foundation.
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This stinks that you had to go to all the trouble! But I think you have helped a lot of other writers by giving them this information 🙂 I wonder why they make it so difficult to get your stuff off of them?
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I was wondering about that, but I think it’s more an issue of manpower. They are a free service, so they don’t have a large staff. So, it probably takes time to get through all the books coming in to get set up and requesting to be taken off.
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Hmmmm…I’m surprised they don’t just have a delete button or something. But I’m sure it is way more complicated than that! lol
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They do, but it’s only for their site. They have to take it down from the other sites because it’s through their publishing account.
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Ahhhhhhh…that makes sense!
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Hope the wait is less than anticipated.
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